The October Revolution was victorious, but it was not the joy of the revolution's success that greeted the Red Soviet regime. Almost from the day of its birth, the nascent state of Soviet Russia was threatened with extinction.
In Soviet historiography, this period is known as the "Russian Civil War of 1917-1922 and the Armed Intervention of the Allies".
It was during this period that many Chinese workers in Russia joined the Red Army and threw themselves into the war to defend Soviet power, becoming a fierce force in the rolling red iron current.
1917 "Moscow Uprising"
From November to December 1917, Soviet power was established on most of Russia's territory. The Bolsheviks (Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) and their supporters, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, resolutely represented the interests of the proletariat and the poorest peasantry, thus attracting opposition from other non-proletarian parties, groups and associations in the country. These parties, groups, and classes quarreled with each other constantly, but they were united in opposing the Bolsheviks.
At that time, various enemies at home and abroad were coming from all directions to the nascent Soviet regime, rebellions were rising and falling, and civil wars broke out throughout the soviet union. In the face of the fierce offensive of the opposition, the officers of the Red Army units lacked special education and training, and the soldiers were poorly organized and had low combat effectiveness. The White Army was mostly composed of professional soldiers such as officers, cadet cadets, and Cossack soldiers. The Red Army often fell behind in battles with the White Army.
In order to strangle the nascent Soviet power in its cradle, the Allies occupied the most important economic regions of soviet russia, imposed a total blockade by land and sea, and exerted political pressure on neutral countries interested in trade with Russia. By the summer of 1918, three-quarters of Soviet Russia had fallen, including ukraine, the Volga and Don rivers, and the main grain producing areas.
The first half of 1918 was the most dangerous period for Soviet Russia, the darkest period before dawn.
Lenin was giving a speech
Lenin pointed out on July 29, 1918, that "the critical situation has reached its peak" and that "almost all the links forged by imperialism are connected." The Soviet government issued a call to the people of the whole country: "Either victory or death!" ”
On 28 January 1918, the People's Commissariat of the Government of the Soviet Union issued a decree establishing the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, declaring that the Red Army "consisted of the best elements of the working class and of class-conscious persons" and that "all citizens of the country over the age of eighteen who are ready to contribute their strength and their lives to the defence of the victorious fruits of the October Revolution, Soviet power and socialism may join the Red Army".
Poster of the Russian Red Army
In response to the call of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government, the working people of Soviet Russia stepped forward for the world's first socialist country and set off an even greater upsurge of participation in the Red Army; and the International Regiment, the International Detachment, the Battalion of Foreign Communists, and other Red Army units composed of internationalist fighters from all countries were also born in large numbers.
Jonah Yakil, a famous general during the Russian Civil War who led the international detachment of the Red Army
Among them, there are many Chinese soldiers.
At that time, the Chinese workers were caught in the Soviet-Russian civil war, and the situation was very difficult. They already received meager salaries several times less than the Russians, and their labor contracts were unilaterally terminated after construction sites, mines, lumberyards and enterprises were shut down. And they need to earn money to support themselves and their families, and they need to have money to travel back to their homeland in their homeland.
However, from the late spring of 1918, when the Czechoslovak Legion rebelled and the Soviet power east of the Urals was overthrown, it became impossible for Chinese workers to return home by land. After the Allied forces and white armies occupied the northern and southern ports, the sea routes for the Chinese workers to return to China were also blocked.
Trapped in the chaos of war, in order to protect themselves and their relatives, many Chinese workers in Russia joined the Ranks of the Red Army. Their choice is not difficult to understand. Once war breaks out, the vulnerability of foreigners in the face of armed groups is immediately revealed, and beatings and executions may become commonplace. Faced with such an environment, foreigners of the same race will generally huddle together to warm up and go out together. At that time, the Chinese workers were deeply trapped in a war-torn environment, and they were in a dangerous situation on all sides, and their situation was difficult and critical. They "find themselves in a completely unfamiliar environment, where military service becomes their only option for survival" – and it must be said that there is some truth to this statement.
The detachment of the Chinese Red Army entered Odessa
However, the participation of Chinese workers in Russia in the war to defend Soviet power had a stronger incentive than to escape from economic and security difficulties.
In 1918, Moscow, Petrograd, Yekaterinburg, Kharkov, Perm and other places all established Chinese workers' organizations in Russia. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee News reported on September 22, 1918: "The Moscow Chinese Association was founded in September 1918, and its members strongly opposed the Allied interference in Soviet affairs and declared in protest that "... Only communist Soviet power is the only power in the world that derives power from the people and serves the people." The positive propaganda of these organizations had an impact, turning many Chinese workers into fighters who believed in soviet power.
On December 19, 1918, the Grand Opera Hall of the Petrograd People's Palace held a 10,000-person congress with the participation of representatives from China, India, Korea, Persia, the United States, Britain and France. At the opening ceremony presided over by Gorky, Liu Shaozhou, the leader of the Chinese workers in Russia who supported Sun Yat-sen's southern government, delivered an enthusiastic speech. Liu Shaozhou said that if the Chinese people knew the truth about liberated Russia, then all Chinese citizens would happily cheer "Long live the great Russian revolution!" ”
The former site of the Beiyang Government Legation in Russia
Five days later, on December 24, the Chinese Workers' Federation, led by Liu Shaozhou and established in Petrograd, entered the Beiyang Government Legation in Petrograd at the former Sergeyev Street and established the Central Executive Committee of the Federation to protect the interests of Chinese citizens.
As proletariat in the full sense of the word, the Chinese workers in Russia truly experienced and comprehended the solemn proclamation of the Communist Manifesto in this revolutionary storm: "What the proletariat has lost in this revolution is only the chain. What they will gain will be the whole world. ”
Throwing themselves into the revolution, joining the Red Army, and forming the Chinese troops, how will the Chinese workers in Russia play their wonderful roles on the stage of history in the future?
Text/Han Xianyang
Source of material / Han Xianyang
Editor-in-Charge/Lin Feng
Edit/Rain, Thousand Miles
Illustration/Thousand Miles
Co-ordinator/Souther
Source: Broken Circle